The primary field of application of the subject matter is the construction of water seal expansion joints at building fenestrations or penetrations.
During building construction or remodeling, forming an effective and code-compliant water seal around wall penetrations such as window and door frames, pipes, exterior trim, or vents, requires accommodation for the differential thermal and hygroscopic expansion between adjoining materials. Such joints frequently suffer from water intrusion resulting in structure damage because inadequate methods and materials are used in order to save labor and material cost. While effective code-compliant methods and materials are available, they are expensive and time consuming to install.
The currently accepted practice for proper joining of stucco or similar wall finish coats, hereafter referred to as stucco, to a wall penetration, hereafter exemplified by a window, uses at least 5 steps:                a) Spacing: A screed strip sometimes called casing bead is attached to the wall around the window to form a gap between the stucco and the window when the stucco is later applied up to the Casing Bead.        b) Masking: The window is then masked with masking tape and a covering material such as plastic or paper to protect it during stucco application.        c) Screeding: The stucco is applied up to the casing bead, using the outer surface of the casing bead as a screed to control the depth of the stucco. Mechanical removal is required for any stucco which has gotten into the groove between the casing bead and the widow frame, as the masking does not cover the groove.        d) Sealant Backing: A compressible strip usually called backer rod is forced into the gap between the casing bead and the window frame to partially fill the gap and thereby reduce the amount of sealant needed to fill the gap, and to prevent adhesion of the sealant to a third rigid surface at the bottom of the gap, as such third surface adhesion would detrimentally affect the performance of the sealant in stretching and compressing with relative movement of the window and stucco.        e) Sealant Application: The remaining gap is filled with a sealant, sometimes called caulking material, and the masking materials are removed.        
Though such separation between stucco and other materials is a building code requirement, due to the number of materials and labor steps involved, many windows, doors, and other wall penetrations are installed without proper use of this process and these materials and subsequent water damage occurs due to cracks resulting from differential thermal and hygroscopic expansion of the stucco and the other materials in the structure.
There is a need for a product and method which saves material and labor cost to perform the described process.
Previous devices with related purposes are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,418,688, 4,023,324, 3,807,107 and 6,993,874B2, but none use adhesive attachment needed in construction applications or assist in the attachment of masking material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,993,874B2 provides for Spacing, Screeding, and Sealant Backing, by use of an adhesively applied two part strip, the top part of which is removed after use as a screed for the stucco, but fails to provide any assistance for the masking process and requires an unnecessary and costly convex internal interface.
The subject invention satisfies the described need including Spacing, Screeding, Masking attachment assistance, and Sealant Backing all in a single application with inexpensive materials.